ShallowSeasGallery

SoFlo Resident here, there are loads of shark charters but every year it seems to rotate which ones are "hot" or seem to be getting all the Action. Last year that was 100% Salty Divers in Jupiter, but this year a newer outfit Gung -ho is getting all the tigers, apparently four at a time. I haven't paid attention to why these boats have rotating effectiveness but its just a note from the volume of images I see. Both of these boats cater for photographers. There are three blackwater operators in the area and they take turns on which night of the week they run, its not every night. South Florida Diving Headquarters- Boynton Beach traditionally does Wednesday, Fridays, Pura Vida Does Thursday, Sundays, and Walkers does Mon-Wed-Friday (depending on weather). All three operators are good and everyone uses all three. Lastly Blue Heron Bridge is a gem in February, obviously stay on top of the daily shifting tide situation, As a visitor I suggest you dont deviate from it. The last two years Februarys were the tail end of Seahorse Season and the start of hairy frogfish season, not to mention the winter nudis are out. If you like the muck, you cant skip it! As a visitor you will be told to go to crystal river for the manatees over and over. This is not the most idea photography spot for manatees but I suggest you connect with a local guide who can take you to better spots. These are not to be spoken about or shared on open forums lest they become a zoo, but some of them are now burned enough to take tourists, before becoming a circus like crystal river.

Its also critical to note that Nauticam sells the blue rubber 1 inch ball rings separately in packs of ten, So you can effectively Guccicam out your rig for the gram even if its not the real deal, though it may clash with the Marelux green t-shirts, hats, luggage, influencer deals, and flags that come with each housing. (both are fine housings by the way, no shade to the marelux marketing program we love it!)

I have all four SMC/CMC lenses and have used all four with the 90 on both the a6500 and the A7R3 With full frame the CMCs will "work" in that they wont vignette, but the edges will not be sharp, while the SMC series gives a much larger focus field. The CMC-1 was very blurry except for maybe the middle 30% but gave great magnification. with my crop sensor I usually found myself running the CMC-2/SMC-2 on the double flip while on full frame the SMC-1 just works that much better than either CMC.

Hello Waterpixels, It came to my attention that a person on my contacts was hit yesterday with the dreaded "camera tax" on his housings, scuba gear, and drysuit travelling through Cancun to the tune of $500. Thats a hefty tax to bring your camera. Any other horror stories of the camera tax spreading beyond Cabo?

Was it the same Mediterranean guy that keeps feeding fish to other fish and has a portfolio of the craziest too-good-to-be-true macro predation pictures ever? There was also a lady who admitted to (posted a how-to video and everything) illegally using scuba to harass a Florida manatee for a pic in this years oceanographic mag competition. I don't think they officially retracted it but they've scrubbed the image from their socials. I think this stuff happens all the time and the retractions are rarely made public.

Hello Waterpixelers, After seeing that a regular ND filter (even a shaved down one) will not fit inside my port with my lens, I started looking for solutions and came across "clip in" style ND filters that fit behind the lens, over the sensor which have the benefit of adding no extra length. The Kase ND64 is an example of this. When I brought it up, a respected topside portrait photographer told me that these clip in filters produce excess diffraction being so close to the sensor, and were in his words "unusable". Seeing as his experience isn't quite underwater, I was wondering if any of you had a similar observation. Currently I just let the ND filter sit on one of my double-flip slots and would really like to free it up for a second close up lens option.

Hello Waterpixelers, I am a weekend warrior and you can typically find me most Saturdays and Sundays under the Blue Heron Bridge. As a connoisseur of maximum magnification, I love to spot tiny things and got my divemaster just to be able to show clients how wonderful the small things are. I am a long time lurker and seldom poster so I look forward to making this forum as vibrant as the last one.